In-flight entertainment (IFE) systems have been deployed onboard aircraft to provide entertainment, such as movies, television, audio entertainment programming, electronic games, and other electronic content to passengers. IFE, systems are increasingly using Bluetooth networks to interconnect seat video display units (SVDUs) to wireless user terminals that can be operated by passengers. Such user terminals can include passenger control units (PCUs) supplied as aircraft equipment and include passenger electronic devices (PEDs) that are transported onto the aircraft by the passengers. Such PEDs can include cellular phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, wireless headphones, etc. Passengers can operate the user terminals to select content for playback through display devices and/or speakers within or connected to the SVDUs.
It is important to maintain operational security of IFE systems having Bluetooth connectivity. However, the level of operational security is balanced against the importance of promoting an enjoyable passenger and crew experience by simplifying the pairing process for establishing Bluetooth connections between user terminals and SVDUs. SVDUs could be vulnerable to hacking or other attack during establishment of Bluetooth connections by cloning devices that appear to be an authorized device. Bluetooth communications may be improperly eavesdropped and/or modified by an unauthorized device, e.g., man-in-the-middle attack, if insufficient Bluetooth security modes are utilized. Moreover, SVDUs could be rendered inoperative by denial of service attacks by a malicious or faulty Bluetooth device initiating a high rate of repeated pairing processes.